Invited ...?

Dear one,

Perhaps you are as I am: my mind is struggling to grasp that in approximately two weeks we will be celebrating Thanksgiving; and in another four weeks we’ll be celebrating Christmas. Frequently I’ve commented: “Because of covid, I don’t know where 2020 went. It’s become the year that happened, but somehow in another, altered state or dimension.” However, even though our lives seem to be returning to some previously defined “normality”—if only slowly—I am wondering: Is 2021 also becoming a year that happened: it came, it went, but I know not how, where, and why?

Nonetheless, if these years have “disappeared,” what has remained is a relative constant: those moments of celebration. Whether 2019, 2020—the year our lives turned dramatically—and now 2021, Thanksgiving and Christmas stand out in memory, if not in detail. Moments of celebration or festive parties provide us demarcations, and it is with that acknowledgement that I recall: Jesus regularly ate or dined with others. Some of His most poignant and/or powerful interactions and teaching occurred during a meal—and some of those meals or parties happened at His instigation. With two of His followers, Zacchaeus and Levi (cf. Luke 19:1-10; Mark 2:13-17), He encouraged them to gather their friends, that He might dine with them. Much to the dismay of their neighbors, or of the religious leaders, He exhibited no qualms—no finely honed sensibilities, that would make of Him an awkward presence among “sinners,” among tax collectors, prostitutes, tanners, and shepherds. In fact, among some He had the reputation of being a “glutton and wine-bibber” (Matthew 11:19).

Of course, the meal for which He is most remembered is that last supper; that meal, during which His actions spoke volumes, as He washed His disciples’ feet; that meal, where he announced: “One of you will betray me” and all feared: "Is it I?"; that dinner, during which He admonished His disciples to imitate Him—to love one another just as He had loved them (cf. John 13:1ff.).

Truly, none of us knows what might happen in the next six weeks. Will covid spike, as indicators suggest? Will some world leader grab the spotlight? Whatever or whoever, with confidence I’ll venture: Thanksgiving and Christmas will occur. But with that assertion, I wonder: Will we invite Jesus to share in our celebrations? If we do, I’m quite convinced that He’ll mingle and relate very comfortably; I’m also certain that He’ll make of our celebrations a meal most memorable.

With anticipation,
Stan